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Philip Larkin, though a very talented and revered
poet, wrote most of his poetry on his discontent
with life. He seems to always be lusting after
love, sex, and happiness. Larkin consistently
writes about his own unhappiness and lack of
social life and this creates a style of poem all
his own. Larkin really opens up in his poetry and
pours out his feelings on the reader. If Larkin
feels like having sex he lets the reader know; if
Larkin had a bad day he lets the reader know; if
Larkin saw a couple in love and he is jealous he
lets the reader know. Hes not afraid to use an
uncouth word to get his point across and this
style gets peoples attention and it lets them know
he means business.

Philip Larkins life didnt even
end up getting any better. His life kept heading
him downhill and his work began to suffer. This
suffering is included in many of his poems. All of
these things show that Larkin is one of the most
emotional poets ever, and this is what gives him
much of his uniqueness. Sex is one of Larkins main
themes. He talks about people doing it, his lack
of it, and his desperate desire for some of it.
Larkin obviously isnt getting any sexual
fulfillment from anyone and he is unafraid to show
that.

Bruce Meyer, a poetry critic, said of
Larkins book High Windows, Larkins poetry shows
his pathetic and unattainable desires for love,
passion, and human contact. (Meyer, 113-16)
Another thing that Larkin's poetry does is make
people relate to his problems and feelings and
also desire the things he wants. Larkin invokes
his own jealousy of people who are having sex upon
his readers. Larkin targets people who arent
getting sexual fulfillment and makes them feel the
same way he does: unhappy with their current
predicament (not having sex) and possessing a
desire to change this situation. Again Bruce
Meyer, [High Windows] is about the sexual freedom
that was sweeping England in the 60s. These poems
show a glimpse of the heaven that Larkin wants to
get to and show people what theyre missing.

Larkin
provides a window in to what life could be. From
his poem High Windows, When I see a couple of kids
And guess hes fucking her Everyone old has dreamed
of all their lives- Bonds and gestures pushed to
one side. (Larkin, High Windows, 32) Larkin
observes kids and talks about how he would love to
be in their place. This makes his reader relate
and want to be in the same situation as the
observed kids. This is something Larkin strives
for in all his poems. Larkin is unhappy with the
fact that his is not having sex and wants
something more out of life.

His poetry displays
the fact that he is defiantly not getting this
something. Larkin makes sure people are aware of
this lack of sexual fulfillment and he tends to
pass his pain on to the reader. Another thing
Larkin writes about is love. Similar to his theme
of sex, the love theme also indicates a lack
of/desire for love. In the poem Coming Larkin
writes, [I] feel like a child / nd can understand
nothing. (Larkin, Coming 14, 17) Larkin does not
really understand why he is not loved and he
writes that he cannot feel like an adult without
love.

In fact most of the book High Windows is
about his lack of love and his desire for it.
(Meyer, 113-116) Much like his theme of sex he
puts the pain of this lack on the reader. This
strange distribution of pain has become expected
of Larkins poetry by many critics. (Gwynn,
116-118) I think Larkin does this to ease his pain
in some way and to make people relate to his
poetry on a very personal level. Bruce Meyer
writes, Larkins poetry shows his pathetic and
unattainable desires for love. (Meyer, 113-116)
Bruce Meyer can see that Larkin is lamenting his
unhappiness in his poems and is trying to find a
way to help himself. This lamentation has become a
very common theme in Larkins poetry and it defines
his personal poetical style.

Larkin is a very
unhappy man that didnt get to live like many
people due to his lack of sexual appeal and due to
his own insecurity. His poetry is an outcry to
society asking for help. Larkin seemed to get more
and more unhappy as his life progressed. He began
to realize his life was getting nowhere. All he
had done was become promoted through the hierarchy
of the British library system. (Schmidt, 300-301)
His poetry seemed to lose its steam and greatness.
Poetry critic Michael Schmidt says though it was
as emotional as it ever had been Larkins poetry
was becoming repressive of the facts and seemed to
show him living in a constant state of denial.
(Schmidt, 300-01) More clearly, Larkin was not
telling the whole truth in his poetry and was
trying to downplay his unhappiness.

This restraint
did nothing to help his current state of mind and
he seemed to continue to sink deeper and deeper in
to his depression. Roger Bowen writes that Larkin
was becoming obsessed with his own mortality and
seemed very occupied with the thought of death.
(Bowen, 297-300) Larkin seemed to become almost
suicidal and his poetry expressed signs of his
approaching death. . (Bowen, 297-300) These things
led to the downfall of his poetry, but
nevertheless people still liked him. Larkin won
many awards soon before his death including the
Queens Gold Medal for Poetry, the Lioness Award
for Poetry, and many of his poems were appointed
to the National Manuscript Collection of the
Contemporary Writers Committee. (Napierkowski,
106) Finally Larkin was asked to be the poet
laureate for England and he declined the Queen.

He
soon afterwards died of cancer, he was
sixty-three. (Moore) Larkin was a great poet that
was renown around the world for his work. It
gained him much popularity, but this new found
appreciation seemed to lead to his downfall.
Larkins poetry will continue to be an awakening to
any student as it was to me. His crazy language
and strange topics gave me and many other people a
new outlook on writing. (The Philip Larkin
Society) This occurrence will never cease because
of Larkins widespread popularity. The poetry will
always live on throughout English literary history
and will continue to impact for years to come..